Telangana Congress assailed by dissent, discontentment

A political leader appeared on a news show on a YouTube news channel and lit up papers and burnt them to ashes. The person who resorted to this action was Naveen Kumar or Teenmaar Mallanna, a journalist-turned-member of legislative council (MLC) from Telangana and a Congress leader who had shared the stage with party senior leader, Priyanka Gandhi in the past. The papers that bore his brunt were of the caste survey that the state government undertook recently. In short, the Congress leader was protesting against the Congress government of Telangana.

Teenmaar Mallanna, who belongs to the BC community, alleged that the figures were manipulated to undermine the strength of BCs while the population of the OC’s (Other Category or general category) were inflated.

The idea behind the comprehensive caste survey, which cost the state treasury around Rs 160 crore, was to assess the socio-economic conditions of various communities along with their accurate composition in the state’s population. Enumerators visited around one crore households in villages and cities across the state and with the help of a questionnaire collected the data.

According to the survey report presented in the state assembly, SC’s are 17.43 per cent, STs 10.45 per cent, OC 15.79 per cent, and BCs 46.25 per cent. Muslims made up for 12.56 per cent.

“I joined the Congress party because Rahul Gandhi said he will support a caste census and also a 42 per cent reservation for BCs. But this state government has conducted a fake survey. This has hurt the self-respect of BC’s. This is a conspiracy to oppress BCs and destroy them. This government doesn’t want to give us reservations. The BC population should have been 60 per cent but it is being shown as 46 per cent. The OC’s should have been 8 per cent but the numbers have been increased to 15 per cent,” said Kumar.

Recently, a case has been registered against Kumar for allegedly passing derogatory comments against the Reddy community at a public meeting. The Reddys are a politically powerful upper caste community who have been the backbone of the Congress party. Chief Minister Revanth Reddy along with three other ministers out of the 12 belong to this particular caste. Despite Kumar’s rebellious actions, the party is mum and no disciplinary action has been taken against him.

For the senior leadership of the party, there is trouble brewing elsewhere too. A few days back, a group of 10-12 Congress legislators held a meeting at a star hotel in Hyderabad. The MLAs had reportedly discussed certain issues that concerned the functioning style of a senior minister in the Congress cabinet. According to sources within the party, they felt that their requests pertaining to development works and release of pending bills were not heeded. The MLAs had indirectly raised a banner of revolt against a minister and sent out a strong message, leading to CM and the high command trying to douse the fire.

Most of the MLAs who were holed up in a meeting are young or first-time MLAs, raising the doubt if a senior leader or a particular camp is behind propping them up against a power centre with the government.

As this was playing out, the assembly secretary issued notices to 10 legislators who had switched over from BRS to Congress. These MLAs had earlier won on BRS ticket in the assembly elections held in November 2023. After BRS lodged innumerable complaints to the assembly speaker citing anti-defection law, through the notices the legislators were asked to explain the reasons for their decision.
Meanwhile, the last time a BRS legislator had shifted to the Congress was in July but since then, there have been no migrations to the ruling party. Some of those who had switched are seen either maintaining a stoic silence or seen sending out feelers that they are unhappy with the ruling party.

Will this lead to some of the MLAs moving back to the BRS? If this becomes a reality then it would be a blow to the party ahead of the local body polls and the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). For the moment, elements within the congress are effectively playing the role of that of the opposition parties.